Read on to learn about their customer support philosophy and what it’s like to work in support at 3Play Media!

What makes support at 3Play unique?

Sid McCree-DiazJosh Erickson

SID: I have worked many support jobs in the past. What I have found with past clients is that it doesn’t really seem like they enjoy what they do. Perhaps it was the line of work they were in – who knows. But this is not the case with 3Play clients. Captioning is such a cool industry to be in and our clients know it. You can tell they genuinely love what they do and this can be noticed by how they interact with us in support. It seems like they look to us more as helpers and teammates who are there to fix issues or give them instruction as opposed to bad guys who broke something of theirs. Because of this, I truly enjoy helping our customers.

JOSH: We have over a dozen different integrations with media players and lecture capture systems, so knowing all of our integrated products is key. I also pride myself on response time. I like getting right back to the customers ASAP to make them feel that their issues matter, and that we are on top of things. This makes us far better in response time compared to the industry standard.

What makes you good at customer support? How did you get into it?

SID: I have always been a people person. No matter who you are or where you come from, I am able talk to you. People around me have always told me they feel a sense of trust with me and that I am easy to talk to and confide in. That in conjunction with my very calm and relaxed demeanor has made me excel in customer facing positions. This was immediately discovered back in college when I took my first support position as a Help Desk Technician, assisting people in person, via phone, and by email with their computer issues. I knew that this was my calling.

JOSH: I worked for my father’s auto repair shop in Cambridge, MA every summer from when I was 14 to when I was 18. I always enjoyed talking to customers to see what exactly was wrong with their cars. My father used to prank me by having one of his friends come in irate, saying that we had done something to his car and it no longer ran efficiently. He was always impressed by my calm demeanor, and with how I was able to diffuse the situation by asking the customer to describe in detail what was wrong with their car. Usually my dad’s friend could no longer keep up the gag, stating, “This kid is too nice! I can’t go along with this any further.” My dad would praise my level of patience, saying, “I don’t know where you got that from!”

What’s the biggest challenge of working in support?

~“Despite the outcome, I always remember to provide excellent service no matter what, because that is something I always have control of and can always execute.” – Sid~

SID: I would say the biggest challenge for me are those few cases where no matter what, the outcome does not satisfy the client – those issues that are outside of my control or are a temporary limitation of the product. Most of the time issues can be immediately resolved, or at least escalated and resolved at a point in the future. But sometimes this does happen. Despite the outcome, I always remember to provide excellent service no matter what, because that is something I always have control of and can always execute.

JOSH: Going back to the first question – our knowledge base. With so many integrations, we need to be at the top of our game in diagnosing multiple integration issues. Not all of our integrations function identically, so we need to know all the steps in getting these different integrations working. Another challenge is meeting our customers’ deadlines. A lot of people have deadlines to make, and if something goes wrong, we need to prioritize which customers need their issues answered first, which can be quite the juggling act.

What is your support philosophy?

~“I like to refer to myself as a ‘digital detective.’ If a customer writes in to support with an issue, I like to retrace their steps.” – Josh~

SID: My philosophy for support is to remain calm while also letting the client know that I truly understand how important their issue is. I like to make clients feel like their issue is the only issue. Even for issues that can’t be immediately resolved, if I provide excellent service every time, no matter what, you can never lose.

JOSH: I like to refer to myself as a “digital detective.” If a customer writes in to support with an issue, I like to retrace their steps, to see if they perhaps missed a step in setting up a particular integration. If they did set things up correctly, I like digging deeper to see what the real issue is.

What do you like about working with 3Play’s customers?

SID: Media is such a cool industry as a whole. So of course we will meet many cool customers. If you’ve ever looked back at some support calls you’ve had to make in the past for a product or service you use, not too often do you get the sense that the support rep understands exactly what your role is in the industry and how the product is assisting that. It’s almost like we are partners here at 3Play. Being in support helps us understand exactly what our clients do for the industry. If we are in line with the customer and we understand their goals, it helps us help them. No matter what it is, it is gratifying to know that our services are helping them be better.

JOSH: I like the diversity of our customers. We work with many different customers, ranging from universities getting lectures captioned to production companies getting full length feature films captioned. It’s really cool to see all the different levels of customers needing captions for their work.

What do you do for fun outside of work?

SID: Outside of 3Play, I have a strong passion for DJing. When I am not at the office, you can usually find me spinning at Boston’s top nightclubs and bars as well as taking my rig with me for weddings, birthdays, bar mitzvahs, and any other event that may require music! Staying physically fit and active is also a priority of mine, so after work you can almost always find me boxing over at the Ring Boxing Club or weight lifting with my buddies. If I am not busy I get frustrated. Keeping my schedule filled with activity is a must!

JOSH: I’m a HUGE gamer. I’ve owned nearly every gaming console that has come out since 1992. The first console I owned was the original Nintendo NES. I knew right away that this was my “thing.” Since then, I’ve owned the SNES, Sega Genesis, N64, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo Gamecube, Playstation 1, 2, 3, 4, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. My favorite so far would have to be the PS4, which is currently my main console that I play daily. I’m very much into story driven games these days, the most recent being the Uncharted series, which is very much a reimagining of the Indiana Jones franchise.

I also very much enjoy sports. I love my Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins (in that order). I’m a Red Sox and Celtics season ticket holder, and I love attending as many games as possible. I also enjoy playing golf, and softball. My team recently won the “Brookline Mens League Wood Bat” softball league championships. It was the highlight of my summer!